Auburn forward Dylan Cardwell announces return to Tigers for fifth season

Steady reserve big man and longtime Auburn veteran Dylan Cardwell has officially announced he will return to the Tigers for 2024-25 to use his additional year of eligibility via Instagram.

Cardwell played double-digit minutes in 31 of 35 games this past season, with a season high of 24 minutes played in a win at Georgia. Cardwell averaged 5.3 points and 3.7 rebounds per game for the Tigers in 14.5 minutes per game as the backup center behind All-American Johni Broome.

That was pretty much his role in the other three seasons at Auburn as well. In those first three years, 2021, 2022 and 2023, Cardwell averaged between 3.0 and 3.8 points each season while also playing between 11 and 15 minutes per game, just like in 2024. Perhaps the 2024-25 season will at last offer him the opportunity to start and shine in a role where he plays north of 20 minutes per game.

Cardwell’s top four scoring games of his career all came this past season. He scored 11 points against USC, and 12 points at Missouri, versus Ole Miss and at Vanderbilt. And the 24 minutes he played at Georgia was the third most in his career so far.

Overall, he’s played in 128 games in his career and will only add to that during the 2024-25 season. Barring injury, he’ll almost certainly set the all-time Auburn record for games played, which currently belongs to his teammate Jaylin Williams, a fifth-year senior that just graduated with 141 games in a Tiger uniform under his belt.

Bruce Pearl said near the end of the season that Auburn’s seniors, Cardwell included, loved Auburn and Auburn fans loved them. Pearl said specifically, that Cardwell was grateful for the opportunity he had at Auburn.

“The way they are treated, the way they serve, that stands out to me. Dylan Cardwell is a leader in that regard,” Pearl said. “He will go out as one of the best student-athletes at Auburn, not just because of what he did on the court, but what he does in the community, his ministry.”

But he’s not going out just yet.